Syfy has given a straight-to-series greenlight for space-opera project “The Expanse,” it was announced by Syfy President, Dave Howe. The 10-episode order is Syfy’s boldest new series commitment to date. “The Expanse” is produced by Alcon Television Group (ATG), a division of Alcon Entertainment, and marks the company’s first series order.
Academy Award-nominated screenwriting duo Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, Iron Man) wrote the pilot; they will continue to serve as writers, as well as executive producers.
A thriller set two hundred years in the future, “The Expanse” follows the case of a missing young woman who brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.
Said Howe, “‘The Expanse’ is epic in scale and scope and promises to be Syfy’s most ambitious series to date. Bringing this coveted book franchise to television with our partners at Alcon and the Sean Daniel Company is a giant win for Syfy, reinforcing our overall strategy to produce bold, provocative and compelling sci-fi fantasy stories. ‘The Expanse’ joins a killer line-up of high-concept, high quality series, along with recently announced original projects ‘Ascension,’ ’12 Monkeys,’ the renewal of ‘Helix,’ and the soon to premiere ‘Dominion.'”
ATG President Sharon Hall states, “‘The Expanse’ is an addictive, sophisticated, character-driven franchise and Mark and Hawk are the perfect people to steer it. Their script is a totally immersive and accessible sci-fi journey. We are thrilled to be in business with Syfy on this venture.”
Brown and Daniel state: “‘The Expanse’ is one of the most special pieces of material we’ve ever encountered and it has been our dream to bring it to life since the moment we read it. We couldn’t be more excited to be doing it with this team of all-stars – Mark, Hawk, and our partners at Alcon and Syfy.”
Alcon co-founders and co-CEO’s Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson will serve as executive producers with Sharon Hall. Alcon Television executive Ben Roberts will serve as co-producer. Ben Cook will serve as producer.
Sean Daniel (Graceland, The Mummy) and Jason Brown of the Sean Daniel Company developed the original pitch, with Fergus and Ostby, and will also executive produce.
Developed with the Sean Daniel Company as a direct-to-series project, Alcon is financing and executive producing the hour-long, ten episode series, based on the popular New York Times bestselling book series collectively known as “The Expanse,” written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey). Abraham and Franck will be show producers.
The multi-installment, best-selling book series is published in 17 countries, including China, France, Japan, Australia, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. One in the series, “Leviathan Wakes,” was nominated for a Hugo Award as well as a Locus Award, while “Caliban’s War” was nominated for a Locus Award.
As the sole studio, Alcon retains the much-in-demand worldwide distribution rights. Alcon is currently out to cast and directors.
